There are gigs… and then there are nights that stay with you. Last night at Charlie's Loft was our eighth U2.V2 show, but for me personally, this one felt different. Very different. There were a few reasons for that.
Only a couple of years ago, I had a business on Stewart Street, literally across the road from Charlie's Loft. I must have walked past that building hundreds of times. Back then, I certainly never imagined that one day I'd be standing on a stage across the road, wearing sunglasses indoors, pretending to be Bono in front of 200-plus people. Life takes some strange turns.
It was also the first time that a lot of my friends and family had seen U2.V2 live, and that brought its own particular kind of pressure. It's one thing pretending to be Bono in front of complete strangers. It's quite another doing it while people who have known you for 30 years are standing ten feet away thinking, “Is he actually going to do the Bono voice all night?” The answer, apparently, is yes.
But there was another reason this gig meant so much to me. I've already played this gig a thousand times… just never for real. Like millions of other people, music has been the soundtrack to my life. And for as long as I can remember, I've listened to those incredible U2 songs — particularly the live versions — and imagined what it must feel like to actually be up there singing them.
I've imagined Streets kicking in. I've imagined singing One with a crowd. I've imagined those huge moments where the band stops being four people playing music and somehow the entire room becomes part of it. I've probably played those imaginary concerts hundreds — maybe thousands — of times in my head. I'm sure I'm not alone in that. Somewhere there are thousands of people who have performed Wembley Stadium while driving down the M8.
Last night, though, something slightly surreal happened. For a couple of hours, that imaginary concert became real.
And then the crowd started singing. I spend most of the show at the front of the stage with my in-ear monitors in, which means you're living inside this strange little bubble of the band mix. But last night I could hear something coming through them — the audience. People were really singing. At different points I genuinely couldn't believe how loud it was. I found myself pulling the monitors out of my ears just so I could hear the room properly.
And that's when it really hit me. People weren't simply watching us. They were part of it. The singing. The dancing. The hands in the air. The smiles. Charlie's Loft had that wonderful thing that you can never manufacture: atmosphere. Or, to use the highly technical musical term… the mojo was most definitely in the room.
People sometimes ask after a gig what the highlight was. Last night, I genuinely couldn't pick one. The entire night felt like one long highlight. From Marty Mullen's thunderous opening beats on Zoo Station — which basically announced that subtlety would not be featuring heavily in the evening — to Dave Clayton's driving bassline on New Year's Day rattling through the room, to EdgeBob's incredible, emotional guitar solo as we closed the night with Love Is Blindness. There were moments throughout the show when I'd look around at the other guys and think: this is actually happening.
And I think that's one of the best things about this band. We're enjoying it. Really enjoying it. Hopefully that comes across from the stage, because the four of us were having every bit as much fun as everyone standing in front of it. Possibly more. Actually, definitely more.
There's something else happening with U2.V2 that I'm loving. It feels organic. People are talking about the band. People are sharing videos. People who came to one show are bringing friends to another. Word is spreading. Our first gig had about 12 people at it. Last night there were more than 200 of you packed into Charlie's Loft. That's quite a journey in eight gigs.
If we maintain that particular rate of growth, according to my highly sophisticated calculations, we'll be playing the Hydro in approximately two years. Possibly three if somebody forgets to share the Facebook event. But joking aside, we're incredibly grateful. We're still learning. We're still developing the show. We're still finding little moments in these incredible songs and working out how to make them bigger, better and more authentic. And that's probably the most exciting thing. This feels like the beginning.
If you came to Charlie's Loft last night — whether you're family, an old friend, somebody who's followed us from an earlier gig, or someone who simply fancied a night listening to U2 songs — thank you. Genuinely. From the bottom of our hearts. You gave four guys on a stage a night we'll remember for a very long time.
And personally, you gave me something even more special. For years I've closed my eyes, listened to those songs and imagined what it might feel like to be the guy standing at the front of that stage. Last night, I didn't have to imagine it. I was there. And it was every bit as good as I dreamed it would be.
If you haven't seen U2.V2 yet, hopefully we'll see you somewhere down the road. We'll bring the guitars. We'll bring the songs. EdgeBob will bring enough delay to confuse air traffic control. And we'll do everything we can to give you an exceptional night. Even Better Than The Real Thing? Well… we'll let you decide that. T-Bono x